Motel 6 Red Deer

I rolled out of bed at 550 Saturday morning, and just about managed to be on the road by 630, ready for the 12 hour drive to Sylvan Lake, Alberta. Now for someone from England, the prospect of taking 12 hours just to drive to the next province is slightly overwhelming. Nevertheless, our road trip went super quick considering and the scenery was beyond description... spectacular, incredible, beautiful. Yes, I am talking about the Rocky Mountains. Amazing ...

Ruth and Gorden's 50th was a great time with family and friends. <br>Boundry Ranch is beautiful.<br><br> We left Boundry Ranch in the PM and stopped in Calgary and had a short put sweet visit with Albert and Mieke. Then drove to Red Deer to overnight with Don and Lois

... race around 2 barrels before going around the racetrack. Lots of fun to watch.<br>Also went to the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskawan (you'll be proud of me Paul, finally got that right) with Paul and Darlene on their 40th wedding anniversary. It was a great museum, and we got dressed up in fliers gear and had our photos taken with an old airplane. It was a fun day. Also went to Drumheller to the Dinosaur Museum there ...

In our quest for the library, we stumbled upon the most beautiful city gardens! What a find in a roundabout way! Since Senica has a broken toe we cannot walk all over the town. I love how we found the highlights just a few blocks from the bus station!

... but the temperature this morning was -36C with a strong breeze that dropped the wind chill to a crushing -47C; brrrrr. The snow fell most of the night and I had to shovel through drifts as deep as 40 cm. Still the weather didn't stop me from walking into town for my dental appointment this morning

... pantry are almost empty: no milk, no eggs, no bread, no cereal, no fruit or veggies... Wanting to show off my home on a such a beautiful day, I took my camera along on my shopping trip. I hope you enjoy.

... to everyone, there was a good turn out. Today, we're off to Valhalla to get some last-minute shopping in for things we need for the trip (thanks to Shawna and Kevin's gift certificate!). Tomorrow we're going out with Jordie for his birthday (since we will be flying out the day ...

... Lise won two tickets to an Oiler's game and a night in the Fantasyland Hotel. Gerald and I offered to keep the girls while they went to the game. Lise surprised Gerald by generously giving her ticket to Gerald so that he and Marc could go to the game together. After a dinner all together at West Ed, the boys headed to the game and the girls headed to Fantasyland. We had a great time chaperoning the girls on some rides and enjoyed watching ...

... Eventually I pointed them out to Karen and she said "Oh! That's Quebecois!" I didn't realise just how different it was! It really is like another language. Now I'm a little wary of going to Quebec and trying to decipher this strange lingo. As soon as my ear gets attuned to it I'll be jetting off to Paris anyway. What a tough life! So my French is making progress. Maintenant, je parle français mieux que quand je suis arrivée au Canada.